Course facilitator: Leonie Green

Director & Founder, Corvus Group Australia

Leonie works as a coach, facilitator and business advisor on all things people related, and is a certified MBTI practitioner.

Leonie has a Masters in Workplace and Employment Law from Monash University. Leonie worked in private practise as an employment and industrial relations lawyer for nearly 10 years before leaping into a series of roles in the multi-national corporate world including Group Industrial Relations Manager, Group Shared Services Manager and HR Director (Aus/NZ).

In 2014 Leonie launched her first business, Conscious Workplace and her second business Corvus Group Australia in 2017.

Stephen Bubb

Risk Manager, Legal Practitioners’ Liability Committee (LPLC)

Stephen was appointed as a risk manager by Legal Practitioners’ Liability Committee (LPLC) in January 2016. He has over 30 years experience in private practice and understands the challenges that practitioners face. He is focused on the benefits of good legal practice management.

David Bushby

Managing Director, InCounsel

David is deeply passionate about the future of work and how technology can improve legal practice. His legal career has spanned both private practice and in-house roles, and since 2009 he has been building startups within the legal sector. David is currently the Managing Director of InCounsel, helping legal professionals pursue more flexible ways of working. He's also the founder of Law Hackers, a weekly newsletter featuring four #Lawtech startups each week from around the world that are making an impact. Over 720 legal startups have been featured since 2014.

Aruna Colombathantri

Managing Partner, Australian Public Accountants

Aruna is a CPA/ IPA Accountant and a Lawyer in Australia having overseas experience as a Chartered Accountant and a Lawyer. Due to his multidisciplinary background, he understands accounting and legal dynamics very well and is able to apply his own experience to identify the best solutions for Lawyers.

Aruna has previously worked as an Investigator at the Law Institute of Victoria together with the Legal Services Board + Commissioner for over nine years. During this period, he has investigated over 600 law practices throughout Victoria, ranging from small practitioners to top tier law firms. Aruna has worked at KPMG and Ernst & Young overseas.

He is a passionate and accomplished Accountant as well as a Lawyer, with a strong reputation for delivering personalised, practical solutions for Lawyers. Aruna is highly regarded for his hands-on approach and his willingness to provide independent advice on trust account compliance issues to Lawyers.

Aruna possesses extensive experience in providing advice on forensic accounting, trust account compliance, investigations and trust account audits.

Dr Fabian Horton

Director ConnectLaw Australia

A lawyer, technologist, and educator with over 20 years of experience across various practice areas, Dr. Horton has a unique combination of experience in legal practice, knowledge management, technology management, and education. Through his involvement in the legal profession, he has built a solid reputation as a thought leader in technology and innovation in the law. As a knowledge solutions professional, he provides assistance that demonstrates a passion for purpose-driven results. As an academic and legal trainer, he continues to advance the disciplines of legal technologies, cyber law, and practitioner education. Dr. Horton is a frequent contributor in the area of law and technology through publications and presentations. He advises clients across the wider legal community as he leads projects for government, private organisations, and NGOs throughout Australia. Dr. Horton is a director and chair of the Australasian Cyber Law Institute. A not-for-profit think-tank. He is the founding chair and current executive member of the Technology and Innovation Section of the Law Institute of Victoria. He is also a member of the Futures Committee at the Law Council of Australia.

Melissa Lyon

Hive Legal

Melissa is a Business Development and Innovation specialist committed to assisting professional services organisations develop and utilise client focussed and human centred skills through design thinking. To do this she draws on many years of experience in legal practice, including as a partner of a law firm. She has also held senior business development roles, including managing BD teams and leading numerous projects and programs at a top tier legal firm.

Melissa now works with Hive Legal, an innovative NewLaw firm which has disrupted the legal profession by introducing value pricing, truly flexible work practices and technology based solutions for its clients.

Working in this innovative environment has inspired Melissa to develop a different approach to business development and innovation programs based on a design thinking framework and the power of purpose (HiveThinkP). She is a skilled facilitator and assists clients to develop human centred projects through interactive workshops and design sprints.

She was named Business Development Professional of the Year in 2017 (Australian Law Awards), Innovator of the Year in 2020 (Australian Law Awards), is a member of the Centre for Legal Innovation’s Advisory Board and Chapter Lead and Member of the Steering Group of the Chief innovation Officer’s Forum.

Neil Mackay

Neil Mackay has over 25 years of experience in finance, general management, and sales channel management, having worked in four different countries.

He began his career as a chartered accountant in London before moving to Australia to further develop his accounting skills with a big 4 firm. Neil subsequently worked in the IT&T industry for multinational companies in various countries, including Mexico. Neil's most recent role was as CFO for a leading Australian law firm, where he helped guide the firm through a 700% increase in revenue. He believes that expanding financial literacy within an organization is a significant value add and has a broader perspective on how financial commentary and measurement should be communicated. Neil holds a Bachelor of Arts (Joint Honours Economics and Accounting) and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Outside of work, Neil enjoys sports, bushwalking, paddleboarding, travel, and wine tasting.

Khai Phan

Managing Director of Financial Training Australia and General Manager of Tribel Advisory

Khai is currently the Managing Director of Financial Training Australia and General Manager of Tribel Advisory. He is also the investment advisor to the Aon Charitable Foundation which supports a range of charities and worthwhile causes.

Khai has a Bachelor of Commerce with Honours in Finance and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of NSW. He has completed a Diploma of Financial Services and is a qualified financial adviser registered with ASIC.

Helping the aspirational to grow, develop and accomplish their life goals is a passion and a source of inspiration for Khai as these are the future leaders that help make the world a better place.

Neil Watt

Principal Solicitor, Neil Watt Consulting

Neil is a Sydney-based solicitor and legal ethicist with a prior background in government consultancy and community sector management. In a former life he founded the Queensland Law Society Centre for Lawyers’ Ethics and its widely-used Ethics Centre website. Neil served as QLS Senior Ethics Lawyer until moving to Sydney in 2011 to open his own CBD practice specialising in lawyers’ ethics training and defending lawyers in professional disciplinary matters.

A believer that values will always be more powerful than rules Neil nonetheless was a major contributor to the Law Council of Australia’s (almost) national Australian Solicitors’ Conduct Rules now adopted in SA, Qld, ACT, NSW, Victoria and, as of 2021, WA. When not working in his practice he teaches at UTS & Macquarie Law Schools, trains senior practitioners at the College of Law and provides advice, training, a bit of inspiration and his signature humour to lawyers, regulators and businesses around Australia.